Contemporary Dance Program - Faculty
Jennifer Adam
Ballet, Modern Dance Technique, Repertory
Jennifer Adam began dancing at the age of ten under Cornelia Samson in Rochester, Michigan and spent most summers at the School of American Ballet and the Royal Danish Academy. At the age of sixteen Jennifer trained for three years at the School of American Ballet, during this time she apprenticed with American Ballet Theater and performed several Balanchine ballets in the annual workshop. She went on to dance professionally for seven years with Atlanta Ballet and Pennsylvania Ballet. Upon retiring from performing, Jennifer earned a B.S. in ballet with a merit scholarship from the Indiana University School of Music, and an M.F.A. in dance with a teaching fellowship at the University of Michigan.
Tom Berich
Accompanist
Tom Berich, is a percussion recording artist, educator and bandleader. He received his Bachelor of Music Education at West Virginia University. For a number of years he produced live shows for Nickelodeon, the audio prompts heard on Verizon and Sprint's automated customer service, and engineered the audio tours for the Smithsonian, and Boston's Museum of Modern Art. He has developed the percussion performance program for Indiana School for the Deaf and is currently writing a series of steel drum technique books.
Selene Carter
History, Movement Analysis, Improvisation, Modern Dance Technique, Repertory
Selene Carter received her MFA in dance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. As a Chicago dance artist she received a Ruth Page Award, the city’s highest honor in dance, for her improvisational work, as well as funding from city agencies and private foundations. For five years she was co-director of Links Hall where she produced workshops in alternative dance and improvisation, creating a forum for post-modern and experimental dance in Chicago. She has taught improvisation and dance studies at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, the University of Chicago and the Chicago Academy of the Arts. She presented her research on Lester Horton at the Society of Dance History Scholars Annual Conference in June 2009, and in July began working towards her certification in Bill Evans’ Laban Based Modern Dance Technique.
Sherilyn Nott Foley
Jazz, Tap
Sherilyn Foley's body of work includes an extensive background in the arts, as an educator, professional dancer, choreographer, artistic director, and adjudicator. She tours and teaches master classes at universities, schools, studios, and professional organizations across the country. Recently, Ms. Foley was awarded an Indiana Arts Commission Grant to present a youth dance outreach program. She has also been nominated for a Student Choice Award at IU and is a former member of IUPUI’s Dance Faculty, where she was named Instructor of the Year. Sherilyn continues to dance and choreograph professionally, working in theatre, dance companies, television, industrial shows, commercials, and video work. She has choreographed for PBS’s award-winning children’s programming. Sherilyn is choreographer of Algy/Star Styled dance Costumes, presenting their current line in a Fashion Show that can now be seen Algy’s and CRU Dance’s website
Joseph Galvin
Music Director, Musical Resources for Dancers
Joseph Galvin received a bachelor’s degree in "Performance of Percussion Instruments from Diverse Cultures" from Indiana University and also his Masters in percussion from the Jacob's School of Music. He has accompanied several prominent guest dance companies such as Urban Bush Women, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Bill Evans, Paschal Younge, Ben Munisteri, The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, David Parsons, and the Martha Graham Company, and played at a variety of festivals and concerts including Lotus Fest and Lotus Blossoms, the Broad Ripple Art Fair, and with ORI': the Indy Jazz Fest 2007.
Gwendolyn Hamm, Undergraduate Coordinator, Department of Kinesiology
Modern dance technique, pedagogy
Gwendolyn Hamm is an Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department of Kinesiology. She currently teaches Modern Technique I, a secondary dance pedagogy course, and a dance methods and activities course for Physical Education majors. Ms. Hamm has presented at state, regional and national conferences, including the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, National Dance Education Organization, the American College Dance Festival (Mid-Atlantic Region) and the Bill Evans Summer Institute of Dance. Additionally, Professor Hamm has been the recipient of grants and awards, including the IUB New Frontiers Visiting Visionary Grant, the HPER Cross-Disciplinary Research Program Grant, and most recently, the NEA American Masterpieces Dance – College Component, which she co-wrote with Selene Carter.
Jeffrey Hass
Dance Technology
Jeffrey Hass is currently Associate Professor of Composition at Indiana University, Bloomington, where he serves as the Director of the Center for Electronic and Computer Music (CECM). He previously taught music theory and composition on the faculties of Rutgers University and the Interlochen Center for the Arts. His compositions have been premiered by the Louisville Orchestra, Memphis Symphony and the Concordia Chamber Orchestra, and have had performances at Lincoln Center, and at national conferences of the Society of Composers, International Computer Music Conference, International Double Reed Society, SEAMUS, and the College Music Society. His orchestral works have won several national competitions and are published by MMB Music Publishers, St. Louis and Ludwig Music Publishers, Cleveland.
Melissa Noble
STOTT PILATES® Intensive Mat-Plus™ Course
Melissa Noble is a movement specialist focused on both the performing and the healing arts. In addition to her work as an instructor, dancer and choreographer, Melissa is also a Certified Instructor and Instructor Trainer with STOTT PILATES™, and a Licensed Massage Therapist. She has been assisting clients with injuries using therapeutic massage and Pilates since 1996. Melissa has acquired three Pilates certifications: as an apprentice to Cary Reagan in 1995, another with the Physical Mind Institute in 1996, and most recently her designations as a Certified Instructor and Instructor Trainer with STOTT PILATES™ in 2005. She served as a faculty member at the ARC Dance School of Ballet from 2004-2007, where she choreographed several pieces on the company and was also on faculty at University of Washington in the Theatre Dept. from 1999-2006. In 1999, she opened Bodycenter Studios in Washington, which became the first Licensed Training Center in Seattle for the education of Pilates instructors. After moving to Bloomington in 2007, Melissa opened Bodycenter Bloomington, a private studio focused on the treatment of injury and chronic pain through massage and Pilates. STOTT PILATES® Intensive Mat-Plus™ Course
George Pinney, Head of Acting and Directing
Musical Theatre, Stage Movement
George Pinney, a Professor of Theatre and Drama, has directed and or choreographed over 100 productions including Broadway, West End of London, regional and university theatres as well national and international tours. Nominated for 2001 Tony Award and National Broadway Theatre Award in choreography for BLAST! George received a 2001 Emmy Award for outstanding choreography for the PBS Broadcast of BLAST! Recognized as a master teacher George was awarded the prestigious Friederich Herman Lieber Award for Distinguished Teaching and was selected for membership in the honorary Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching. George was also awarded four IU Board of Trustees Awards for Teaching Excellence. At IU George is Head of the BFA in Musical Theatre in the Department of Theatre and Drama.
Iris Rosa, Director, African American Dance
African American Dance Company, Dance in the African Diaspora, Black Dance History
Iris Rosa is a Professor at Indiana University, Bloomington in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, and the Director of the Indiana University African American Dance Company. Her specializations are teaching and choreography from the perspective of the African American and African Diaspora. Ms. Rosa has worked, studied and taught with the Ghana Dance Ensemble of Ghana, West Africa and has studied dance in Puerto Rico and in Havana, Matanzas and Guantanamo, Cuba. She has been a choreographer for musicals at the Phoenix Theatre, Civic Theatre, American Cabaret Theatre and Theatre on the Square. She has also worked on international and community projects at the historical Madame Walker Theatre Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ms. Rosa is also the director of Sancocho: Music and Dance College, a performing ensemble which focuses research on African derived music and dance from the Caribbean and Latin America and Seda Negra/Black Silk Dance Company.
Elizabeth Limons Shea, Coordinator, IU Contemporary Dance Program
Modern Dance Technique, Composition, Choreography, Repertory
Elizabeth Shea, Clinical Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Indiana University Contemporary Dance program, has received numerous grants and commissions to create dance works, most recently from The Indiana Arts Council and the New Frontiers in the Arts and Humanities Program at Indiana University. Her choreography has been chosen for performance by the World Dance Alliance, the National Dance Association, the American College Dance Festival Association, the International Computer Music Association, Regional Dance America and other national and international venues. She has taught/performed/presented choreography at Penn State, Florida State, Florida A&M, The Tallahassee Ballet, and Apalachee Tapestry Magnet School for the Arts. Liz was also an Artist-in-Residence for the State of Florida, and in May of 2006, traveled to China, teaching master classes and presenting choreography. Most recently, Liz served as guest teacher in modern dance at Regional Dance America’s Mid-States Festival and for the American College Dance Festival East Central Region. She also sits on the national board of directors for the American College Dance Festival Association and earned the 2009 School of HPER Teaching Award at Indiana University.
Susannah Windell
Modern Dance Technique for Non-Majors, Body Conditioning for Dancers, Pilates, IU Pre-College Contemporary Dance Program Coordinator
Susannah Windell (Susie) graduated with distinction in 1989 from Indiana University with a B.S. in Dance and Exercise Science. She has danced, taught, and choreographed professionally for nearly 20 years with companies from Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Ann Arbor, and Bloomington. In 2003 she was awarded a teaching fellowship from the University of Michigan and in 2005 she received her MFA in Dance with an emphasis on choreography. Susannah taught Jazz, Modern, and Ballet for three years as an adjunct faculty member at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, California. She has been a certified personal trainer since 1989 and certified Pilates instructor since 1999. In 2007, Susannah became a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist with the NSCA.
Roberta Wong
Ballet and Modern Dance Technique
Roberta Wong, adjunct lecturer in ballet and modern dance at the IU Contemporary Dance Program, trained ballet in Davis and Sacramento, CA areas with Haneke Lohse, Marguerite Phares, and Katie Heil. She attended the San Francisco Ballet and Marin Civic Ballet summer programs. Other training in San Francisco and New York includes Alan Danielson, Arturo Fernandez, Zvi Gothier, David Howard, Mark Morris.
She danced professionally with the Boston Ballet, Indianapolis Ballet Theatre and Dance Kaleidoscope (DK), also serving as company teacher and rehearsal director. While with DK she also performed with the Green Show of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She has also performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra's "Yuletide Celebration" and Indy Convergence.
Various other teaching includes Stage I Dance Academy, Lafayette Ballet Company, Mid-States Regional Dance Festival, Indiana Repertory Theater Summer workshop and Gregory Hancock Dance Theater. She is also currently adjunct faculty at Butler University and Jordan Academy of Dance, Indianapolis, and was faculty and coordinator at the Anderson University dance program.
She is the recipient of two Creative Renewal grants from the Arts Council of Indianapolis and an Individual Artist Program grant from the Indiana Arts Commission for continuing study at the Martha Graham Center for Contemporary Dance to serve as IU Dance Theater rehearsal director for "Panorama," under Sandra Kaufmann.
She has choreographed for Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival, Indy Convergence, IU Dance Theater, Jordan Academy, Anderson University, Pike High School and the Emily Hunt Benefit for Spinal Chord research.
She recently completed the LimonEurope Teacher Training Workshop in Arnhem, Gelderland, holds a B.S. in Biology from Butler University and was pilates-trained by Elizabeth Larkham in California and Pilates on Fifth in New York.
Benjamin Wegman
Benjamin Wegman, performer, choreographer, and teacher, works in the mediums of movement, text, geography and rhythm. Originally hailing from a town called Normal, Benjamin has dance professionally with Jeanne Ruddy Dance, Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers, Keith Thompson’s danceTactics, Headlong Dance Theater, CityDance Ensemble, SCRAP Performance Group, The Pillow Project, Troika Ranch, Meyer Chaffaud Dance, Washington National Opera, and the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange (2006-2011). Currently an associate artist with the Dance Exchange, Benjamin has worked with the company to collaboratively create dances with communities across the United States and internationally in Canada, Japan, Ireland, Switzerland, and France. A respected teacher, he has taught at the American Dance Festival, University of Maryland, Towson University, Indiana University, International Festival of Arts and Ideas, and the Japan Contemporary Dance Network’s Dance Life Festival. Benjamin had the honor of co-directing the premiere of Hidden Snow Memory with Keith Thompson in Sapporo, Japan and Tour Starts Here at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. In 2011, he choreographed and directed still we keep, a day-long solo gallery installation incorporating movement, video and 100 lbs of legos, in collaboration with the National Building Museum. His latest work, Hammock, a collaboration with Sarah Levitt, will premiere at the Kennedy Center in September 2011.
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